Nicolaus Pol (c. 1467 – 1532) was a Renaissance-era physician. He entered the service of

Sigismund of Austria Sigismund (26 October 1427 – 4 March 1496), a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1439 (elevated to Archduke in 1477) until his death. As a scion of the Habsburg Leopoldian line, he ruled over Further Austria and the ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

in 1487, and continued to serve Sigismund's successors, emperors

Maximilian Maximilian, Maximillian or Maximiliaan (Maximilien in French) is a male given name. The name " Max" is considered a shortening of "Maximilian" as well as of several other names. List of people Monarchs *Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459� ...

and

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

until his death in 1532, at an age of about 65 years. He received a medical degree in 1494, and marked the inside cover of all the books in his library with ''Nicolaus Pol, doctor, 1494''. Pol collected a substantial library, estimated at some 1350 volumes, an enormous number at the time. The subject matters included all topics of interest to the "Renaissance man", including medicine, natural sciences, alchemy, astrology and divination, etc. After Pol's death in 1532, his library passed to

Innichen Abbey Innichen Abbey (German: ''Stift Innichen'') is a former Benedictine monastery in Innichen, South Tyrol in northern Italy. Founded in the 8th century, its collegiate church dedicated to Saint Candidus, rebuilt in the 12th–13th centuries, is consi ...

in South Tyrol. Surviving volumes of his library are now scattered, some are found in libraries in Innichen, Innsbruck, and Vienna, and in the USA in the

National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...

, in

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

and in the Allen Memorial Medical Library (33 volumes bought by the Cleveland Medical Library Association in 1929 from Maggs Brothers, for GBP 2,500).

Work

References

* Max H. Fisch and Dorothy M. Schullian, ''Nicolaus Pol Doctor 1494'', Cleveland Medical Library Association, 1947. *''Catalogue of Medical Works from the Library of Dr. Nicolaus Pol: Born c. 1470, Court Physician to the Emperor Maximilian I'', Maggs, 1929.

External links

The Nicolaus Pol Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pol, Nicolaus 1460s births 1532 deaths 16th-century German physicians 16th-century Austrian physicians Bibliophiles German people of the Renaissance period 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers